Memory
by A Flame By Any Other Name
Summary: While enjoying an unexpected relaxing day on another planet, Donna asks the Doctor to tell her a story from his past. His tale takes place in London 2012, where he helps a good friend fight off enemies they have both met before.


**Ok, for those who are waiting for a Merlin Emrys update, it is coming. I've written a bit of it, I promise!**

**This idea came to me while I was writing a list of future fanfiction ideas, and I just had to start writing it. Not sure how many chapters it going to be, but I'm thinking about 5.**

**Enjoy x**

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Donna and the Doctor sat in a cafe on some inhabited planet hundreds and thousands of miles(and God knows how many years) away from Earth. Today's planet - rather shockingly - had no horrific aliens tormenting the civilians, so the pair decided that they'd actually be typical tourists for the day, though the Doctor did seem to get a bit antsy, and was constantly eyeing everyone. Donna half expected him to start randomly jumping in front of people claiming they were evil and sonicing them.

Ok, maybe not quite, but it would be something Donna would love to see.

Donna had previously been staring at the setting sun, one of four sun's the planet's sky showed, which Donna thought was a little bit greedy, considering her home planet only had one, and it was doing just fine - minus all the alien invasions, but she highly doubted that many of them had to do with the fact her planet had only one sun.

It was on odd sight, for one part of the sky to show the orange and pinks of the departing sun, while the rest of the sky to be perfectly bright and show no signs of night approaching. Donna wondered if it was _ever_ night here.

"Rarely. Once every 7 months, all four suns set simultaneously and the sky is completely dark. However, it only lasts about 3 hours before one of the glowing balls of flame pops it's head up."

Donna hadn't realised she'd said the last part out loud. However, she found it intriguing that the people here went so long without night, though it would explain their complexion, something she was jealous of, but knew was highly improbable with her fiery locks.

"So do they only sleep once every 7 months?"

The Doctor laughed, "Of course not Donna, don't be stupid."

"Oi! Who are you calling stupid space boy?" Donna retorted, but with no venom in her voice, only laughter.

"No-one. No-one is stupid. All I see is a space boy and an extremely intelligent and beautiful women." The Doctor quickly replied, all the while with a giant grin on his face. "Anyway, if I were able to continue without any interruptions," and with that he looked pointedly at Donna, "what I was going to say was that all none of their bedrooms have windows, so they do have dark to sleep in."

"Oh." Donna said, rather deflatedly.

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" The Doctor queried.

"I dunno. I guess I just though it would be more interesting, like they all lived underground, or they had some special technology thing."

"Well, if it makes you happy, we can just pretend that they have a machine that covers the sky when they want to go to sleep."

"Yes. It makes me ecstatic. Thank you Doctor." Donna joked.

Once again, the pair fell into a comfortable silence, until the waitress appeared with their drinks. Donna looked at her glass of green goop with apprehension, but tentatively tasted a spoonful when she saw the Doctor readily inhale his dose.

Donna was surprised by the taste. She couldn't describe it, it seemed to change every second, but it was actually very good. She'd have to recommend this place to all her friends when she got home. She smirked at the thought.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing really, just thinking to myself." Donna took from the Doctor's empty glass that he'd enjoyed his drink. The fact that he'd shovelled it into his mouth with no hesitation made Donna think that he must've been here before, and with someone else, because she knew that an amazing man like him could not spend much time alone.

She'd never really thought about it, but the Doctor could have been everywhere. He'd lived 900 years. And he'd go on to live many more, she was sure. And the things he must've seen, and the people he'd met along the way. Donna knew that if she were ever to somehow live a thousand years, she'd spend them all travelling around space, hopefully with the Doctor, but not necessarily with him. She did wonder if things would be as fun - or she'd get in as much trouble - if she weren't with him.

"Doctor?" The man in question looked up, "Since we actually have a chance to relax for once, could you tell me a story? Not a fairytale, but a story of one of your travels, an interesting one."

The Doctor smiled warmly at Donna, "Sure, let me think." He paused, and his eyes flicked from side to side, as if he were perusing through his memories. Then his eyes suddenly stopped, as if he'd found the perfect tale, "Ok, I've got one."

"Who's it about?"

"Let's see if you can guess. Now, it takes place in London 2012, the year the Olympics came to Britain-"

"Ooh, we do the Olympics?"

The Doctor chuckled, "Donna, if you keep interrupting, we'll be here all week."

She looked out at the beautiful landscape, the rolling hills, the bright green grass, the crisp blue sky. This place was perfection, "I think I could live with that." she mumbled to herself. Then, remembering her request, she snapped back to the Doctor, "Sorry. Continue."

"Ok, so it was January 2012. This wasn't actually all that long ago, well, for me anyway. Martha had just left, and I was still grieving over the loss of a friend. I was in a cafe, similar to this, only on Earth, obviously. I bumped into a man who claimed he knew me..."

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"Doctor?"

He turned round, wondering who would be calling him in this cafe, it wasn't like he had a huge arsenal of friends.

The owner of the voice was a plain man, with dark brown hair and what appeared to be the beginning of a moustache poking through on his upper lip. He was young, and quite gangly, perhaps his only outstanding feature.

When the man saw the Doctor looking, he gasped, "It is you."

"Do I know you?"

The man had his hand on the back of his head, running his ringers through the scruff near the top of his neck nervously, "Not exactly. It's kind of a strange story."

The Doctor pointed to the chair opposite him, "Sit down. I'll have you know, I specialise in strange stories."

"Well, there was this man, Harold Saxon," The Doctor baulked at the mention of the name, but the man didn't seem to notice, "And there were these horrible machines flying round all over the place. And then this women visited us and told us to start chanting 'Doctor' at a certain time. When it got near the time, there was a broadcast, and the whole world saw this... creature in a cage. We all started chanting and the creature became you. Then Harold's wife shot him and the broadcast shut off. After, it was as if my mind repressed the memory. But a few months ago I remembered it all with such clarity it was as if I was watching it happen right before my eyes. But the thing is, no-one seems to remember it. They all think I'm imagining it. But I'm not, because here you are, in the flesh, sitting right in front of me." Then the man frowned, "You are here aren't you? I'm not hallucinating?"

All the Doctor could do was stare at the man, before whispering, "How do you remember? No-one should be able to remember."

"What do you mean, no-one was supposed to remember?"

The Doctor brought himself back to focusing on the conversation at hand with a shake of his head, "Nothing. It's not important. Let's just say that people like to forget things that don't mesh well with their own ideas of reality."

To his credit, the man seemed to take this in without being phased. The Doctor wondered if perhaps he should tell him the whole story, but decided that for now it was best the man was left in the dark.

The man stuck his hand out in front of the Doctor, and for a moment the older man looked at it warily, almost unsure about it's purpose, but seemed to remember human customs for shaking hands and grasped the hand firmly. The man in front of him simply said, "I'm Arthur, by the way." and the Doctor could tell that he'd made an ally in a time of peace, something he'd struggled to do before.

Suddenly, a harsh ringing sounded from the pocket of the Doctor's blue suit, causing the two men to jump - though if you ever asked the Doctor, he'd tell you otherwise. The Doctor mumbled an apology, and dug through what could possibly be a bigger pocket than it appeared, before bringing out a brick of a phone, and answering the incessant ringing.

"Hello? Ah, old friend. No, well I guess in comparison not that old. What's the problem mate? Fine, I'll be over in a second." The Doctor turned to Arthur, "Sorry, that was my friend. He said that he's got a dilemma, but he doesn't think the line was safe. A bit paranoid, but I suppose he has a right to be, with that brother of his. Anyway, I need to head over now, so I guess I'll see you some other time."

The Doctor stood up, left a fiver on the table even though he hadn't actually ordered anything before Arthur came over to him, and made his way to leave, but was stopped by his new friend's grasp on his arm, "Can I come with you? I don't mean to sound pathetic, but I have nothing else to do today. Besides, I feel like what you told me wasn't quite the truth."

The Doctor grinned widely and agreed to the man's request, while mumbling to himself, "He's quite smart, isn't he. I like this one."

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**Are you able to guess who the friend is? Because I've been completely subtle about it ;)**

**I hope you've enjoyed the start of it, you shouldn't have to wait too long for the second chapter, but I will have to focus on Merlin Emrys first or my readers may kill me :P**


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